Dashed
by suixing
Summary: All children have dreams and so did he. His sister dreamed of being a princess. His brother dreamed of being the best knight there ever was. But never in his wildest dreams did Garlan expect to ride a dragon.
1. The White Rose of Highgarden

**Hey there! So for some reason I had this idea about Egg's kids actually going along with the politically beneficial marriages, and I also realised that meant a lot more people would have the blood of the dragon.**

 **Including my favourite Tyrell siblings!**

 **Thus this was made.**

 **Enjoy! Reviews are greatly appreciated :D**

* * *

 _285 AC_

"When are we visiting King's Landing? I want to see the new baby," Loras asked. Garlan walked towards them, ruffling his little brother's hair and sitting down beside their father.

In the family, Loras looked the most Tyrell, with his chocolatey curls and golden brown eyes. Their parents said Loras actually looked very much like Garlan when he was younger, just with different coloured eyes and hair.

Garlan looked the most Targaryen amongst them. His hair was platinum white. His eyes were lavender, just like Grandmother's, Willas told him once. Garlan had asked him how he knew, and Willas said that their grandmother had said that when Garlan was just born.

Garlan could not remember his grandmother. She had passed on just before his first name day.

He had pestered Willas to tell him more about Grandmother. Willas said all he could remember of her was that she loved children and had a smile that made one feel warm inside, as if she could light fireplaces in one's soul. When he had been just a babe, their grandmother had carried him. Willas said her silver-gold hair smelt like cinders, kind of like a fireplace too.

Their mother told them once, about this event called "The Tragedy of Summerhall". She said it was a terrible accident; it had killed his great-grandfather King Aemon, his granduncle Prince Duncan, along with many others. Grandmother had been there, their mother told them. She had rescued Princess Rhaella from the flames, and served as midwife when she went into labour, birthing Prince Rhaegar. After that Prince Jaehaerys was crowned king, with Celia Tully as his queen.

As Garlan sat there, lost in his thoughts and twiddling his thumbs, a notion suddenly struck him. What if the Tragedy at Summerhall was not an accident? What if people had conspired for Prince Duncan to go down in history as merely Prince Duncan on purpose? What if House Tully had offed him so their daughter could be the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms? And the fact that till this day, the Tullys held much sway over the court seemed to reinforce that - with Celia as the Dowager Queen, the Tullys would continue to hold plenty of power.

The thought scared Garlan. The fact that he thought of it scared him further. Eavesdropping on what his parents discussed, it had planted funny ideas in his mind. _Stop Garlan, stop,_ he told himself. _Think happy things._ He closed his eyes and reminded himself of the songs his wet nurse would sing to him to calm him down when he had nightmares, humming them under his breath.

"Garlan?" It was his mother. "Are you alright? You seem tired." In her arms was his youngest sister Margaery. She had purple eyes like him, but hers were much darker, a deep, rich violet. A thick streak of silver-gold shone through her otherwise chestnut hair.

"I'm fine. I stayed up late last night to pack my things." Garlan was going to be serving as a squire for his uncle Jon at New Barrel. He bit his lip a little. He missed Highgarden already, and he hadn't even left. Willas always said he could come back to visit them "soon", but Garlan didn't know how long "soon" would be.

"Sleep early tonight," his mother said. "Come, let's have lunch." Margaery giggled in some form of agreement and made an attempt to grab Garlan's nose, and he found himself smiling again. He would set the thoughts in his head aside and serve uncle Jon well as his squire.

Garlan didn't know about other families, but he knew his family would never hurt him. And he would never hurt them. He would never want to see them get hurt.

So he would train hard and be as good a swordsman he could be, to protect his family.


	2. New Barrel

His father had to stay behind for some important matters apparently, so his mother had followed him to New Barrel where he would squire. A girl was waiting at the gates. When she saw them approaching from a distance, she sprinted in and came back with her arms interlocked with Uncle Jon's.

Garlan got off his horse and bowed. "No need to look so serious now, Garlan," Uncle Jon said as he ruffled his hair. The girl curtseyed to greet them, smiling at them with laughing blue-grey eyes.

"Who is this maiden?" His mother asked.

"My daughter, Edelini Storm. She just turned five-and-ten yesterday," Uncle Jon said proudly. Garlan had never seen anyone speak of their natural children so freely. What would Aunt Janna say? Where was Aunt Janna even?

Aunt Janna turned up at dinner. She had been busy with making arrangements for the rooms they would be staying at. Aunt Janna was like that, always wanting to see to things herself, afraid others would not live up to her standards. She told Garlan's mother to stay overnight at New Barrel before making the trip home. As they sat at dinner and ate, Edelini cheerfully recounted her first day at New Barrel. She had been ten when her father acknowledged her and brought her home. Garlan counted. That would have been perhaps a year after Aunt Janna wed him.

As they talked, Uncle Jon called a servant over. He had whispered to the servant, but Garlan was sitting next to him and he could hear. "Bring some fish cakes and rosehip honey up to Etta." The servant nodded and left the hall. Garlan frowned as he pushed his food around his plate. Who was Etta?

The next day after his mother had left for Highgarden, Edelini showed him around the castle. Everyone in the castle called her Eddi, and she encouraged him to do the same. Garlan did as she wished as he found it easier to say, but he found her name very pretty, like that of a princess. If she was legitimate, if her name was Edelini Fossoway, she would sound ladylike indeed. But she wasn't, yet her bastard surname gave a name a different, interesting edge. Edelini Storm. It sounded much better than Edelini Flowers.

In the evening, Garlan had decided to accompany his Aunt Janna. She had been embroidering when Garlan suddenly found himself enough courage to ask the question that had been burning in his mind.

"Aunt Janna," he started, "Aren't you...angry?"

"Angry?" Aunt Janna looked genuinely surprised. "Angry about what?"

"About Edelini." His response was barely a whisper, but his aunt had heard him nevertheless.

"Silly child. She was born even before your Uncle Jon met me; why should I have anything to be angry about? She's cheerful and helps around the house. Plus, the slums is never good for a growing child. I would rather she be here."

Garlan nodded. "You're an amazing lady, Aunt Janna." He couldn't imagine what his mother would do if a similar thing happened to her. Garlan reckoned she would hit the roof.

As he left his aunt's chambers, he heard some rustling sounds. A strong, cold wind blew, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand. The wind seemed to carry a few lingering notes of a musical instrument, and what seemed to be a ghostly sigh. Garlan was terrified. New Barrel couldn't be haunted, could it...?

"Who goes there?"

There was no reply.

Garlan walked down the hallway, faster and faster. His chubby hands gripped his cloak tighter around his body, to stop it from billowing out around him.

He heard a crash from behind him, making him nearly jump out of his skin. His head snapped around to see where the sound had come from.

Behind him was a door.

He edged towards the door slowly. Pushing on it, he realised it was not locked. The door creaked and Garlan's breath hitched.

Looking back at him was a dark-haired, tan-skinned girl with bright eyes, bright eyes a colour he couldn't really explain. They were like molten gold with specks of emerald and lapis lazuli. Garlan was a little startled at first, but then figured the girl was probably more afraid than him, especially if she hid in her room all day.

"Hello," he said softly, trying to sound gentle but sounding nervous instead. "Are you...Etta?"

He thought she would shrink away, but she didn't. She smiled. "Everyone calls me that, yes," she said with an air of confidence and maturity that he wouldn't have expected from a girl his age. "But my real name is Leonette Fossoway."


	3. The Butterfly of the Reach

"You must be the boy who's Father's new squire. Garlan Tyrell?" She smiled again in amusement as the boy's expression managed to become even more stunned.

"Uh...yes, I am." Father had told her about his new squire. _Absolutely dashing young boy,_ he had said, _looks just like a Targaryen prince, born in the same moon's turn as you no less._ Garlan was slightly more plump than she had expected, but all that was probably baby fat which would be gone in no time thanks to Father's training. _Good luck to him,_ she thought. Father's training was no laughing matter.

Leonette opened the door to her room wider. It should be okay to let him in. He didn't look like he would pass her any deadly plague.

And then she sort-of regretted her decision, as there were papers strewn all over the floor. Garlan sat down on the floor to flip through some of them.

"Jenny's song...what's this?"

Leonette sat down next to him. "It's a folk song. I'm learning how to play it on my high harp."

"What's the song about?"

Leonette was surprised Garlan didn't know. It was a story about his granduncle after all. On second thought, maybe that was why he did not know.

She figured it was okay if he knew.

"Prince Duncan, the tales always speak of his beloved, a smallfolk girl called Jenny of Oldstones. He loved her so much he was willing to cast away everything he had from his riches to even the Iron Throne just to be with her, but she felt terrible that he was doing so much for her while she gave nothing in return, so one night she decides to disappear from his life forever."

Garlan was thoughtful, but not exactly surprised, she reckoned. Perhaps he saw it coming. Perhaps he'd heard rumours from his parents. She couldn't know for sure.

"Why are you always in your room?" Garlan had asked, after pondering what she had said for a while.

"I'm not _always_ ," she tried to counter, but bit her lip and realised that it was true. "Well, I don't like the outside." She paused. Leonette was not afraid of the outside; she was _never afraid_ , she always told herself, _there was nothing to fear_. Fancy words or adults or new situations, none of them scared Leonette. She thought of her late mother, her mother who had sailed a sea to get here and had suffered so much. Now that was something to fear. Whatever Leonette handled was nothing compared to her, nothing.

But she just simply disliked going outdoors.

"But I do apologise for not introducing myself earlier. I was sick and Father wanted me to stay in my room; but I'm getting better now. I should be joining you for dinner by latest tomorrow night."

To her surprise, that night Father had actually told her she could go downstairs for dinner. It was then she realised she had spent practially her entire day in the clothes she had slept in. Then again, that was the dress she had worn for yesterday's lunch...oh, nevermind. Being ill, it messes with your brain so.

"So, I have received some absolutely thrilling news!" With this, all eyes were on Father at the dining table. He was practically glowing with excitement.

"Children, we're going to Harrenhall."

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 **The tourney's a little late, but it's still happening. You know what's going to happen next.**

 **Also, when Jon mentions Leonette and Garlan were born in the same moon, I mean they were born within a fortnight of each other.**

 **My personal headcanon is 14 June 277 for Leonette and 26 June 277 for Garlan. Lol #random**

 **How do you think my characterisation of Leonette has been so far? I hoped you liked it! Leave a review and tell me how you imagined Leonette to be :D**


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